Try as you might, there will come a point on a long road trip where the only coffee available to you is watery gas station coffee. You could buy an energy drink (but those taste like metal), or you could mix in a hot cocoa packet for something that actually tastes okay.

If you're buying cocoa powder, whether it's natural or Dutch-process, odds are you'd rather have the good stuff over some flavorless brown dust. Tastier cocoa powder will likely cost more, but price isn't the best indicator of quality; fat content is. Flip over the package and check the label.

If you love chocolate milk, or just a little chocolatey flavor stirred into your coffee from time to time, there's no reason to go buy an overpriced box of desiccated powder when you can make your own cocoa mix at home, ready for mixing, with higher quality cocoa. Here's how.

Instructables user stickmop shares a trick to tell basic barometric pressure using a hot cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa; when you pour the coffee into the cup watch the bubbles. If they move to the edge of the cup quickly you can expect clear skies for the next 12 hours, if they hang out in the center expect rain in the…